The World Health Organisation, in a new analysis, has said that nearly a quarter (24%)—close to 19 million—of adolescent girls will have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence by the time they turn 20 years old.
The new analysis published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health added that almost 1 in 6 (16%) adolescent girls also experienced such intimate partner violence in the past year.
Between countries, there is also a substantive range: from an estimated 6% of adolescent girls subjected to such violence in the least affected countries to 49% in those with the highest rates.
The study, Intimate Partner Violence Against Adolescent Girls: Regional and National Prevalence Estimates and Associated Country-Level Factors, analysed both lifetime prevalence and prevalence over the past 12 months of physical and/or sexual partner violence against 15-19-year-old girls from 161 countries.
Other types of violence, including psychological violence, are not included due to a lack of an internationally comparable measure.
While violence against adolescent girls occurs everywhere, WHO, in the report, said the worst affected regions are Oceania (47%) and central sub-Saharan Africa (40%), for instance, while the lowest rates are in central Europe (10%) and central Asia (11%).
Director of WHO’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research Department, Dr Pascale Allotey, said in a remark that intimate partner violence is starting alarmingly early for millions of young women around the world.
Allotey added, “Given that violence during these critical formative years can cause profound and lasting harms, it needs to be taken more seriously as a public health issue, with a focus on prevention and targeted support.”
The study author and Technical Officer for Violence Against Women Data and Measurement at WHO, Dr Lynnmarie Sardinha, said that the study shows that to end gender-based violence, countries need to have policies and programmes in place that increase equality for women and girls.
Dr. Sardinha added, “This means ensuring secondary education for all girls, securing gender-equal property rights, and ending harmful practices such as child marriage, which are often underpinned by the same inequitable gender norms that perpetuate violence against women and girls.”
The new analysis found that intimate partner violence against adolescent girls is most common in lower-income countries and regions, in places where there are fewer girls in secondary school and where girls have weaker legal property ownership and inheritance rights compared to men.
Child marriage (before the age of 18 years) significantly escalates risks since spousal age differences create power imbalances, economic dependency, and social isolation—all of which increase the likelihood of enduring abuse.
The report declared an urgent need to strengthen support services and early prevention measures tailored for adolescents, alongside actions to advance women’s and girls’ agency and rights—from school-based programmes that educate both boys and girls on healthy relationships and violence prevention to legal protections and economic empowerment.
“Since many adolescents lack their own financial resources, they can face particular challenges in leaving abusive relationships,” it added.
Partner violence can have devastating impacts on young people’s health, educational achievement, future relationships, and lifelong prospects. From a health perspective, it heightens the likelihood of injuries, depression, anxiety disorders, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and many other physical and psychological conditions.
Currently, no country is on track to eliminate violence against women and girls by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal target date. Ending child marriage, which affects 1 in 5 girls globally, and expanding girls’ access to secondary education will be critical factors for reducing partner violence against adolescent girls.
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